Crude oil, gold prices rise; Wheat futures slump

Crude oil futures rose to a six-week high Tuesday as traders expected that supplies fell in the U.S. for the second week in a row.

January oil rose $1.17 to $98.51 a barrel in New York.

Analysts expect that oil stockpiles fell 2.8 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 6 according to a survey by Platts.

The supply report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration will be out on Wednesday.

In other energy futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $2.68 a gallon, heating oil was flat at $3.02 a gallon and natural gas rose 1 cent to $4.24 per 1,000 cubic feet.

February gold rose $26.90, or 2.2 percent, to $1,261.10 an ounce. Silver for March delivery rose 61.4 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $20.315 an ounce.

Copper for March delivery rose a penny, or 0.3 percent, to $3.2665 a pound. January platinum rose $20.20, or 1.5 percent, to $1,388.70 an ounce and palladium for March delivery rose $3.45, or 0.5 percent, to $738.45 an ounce.

In agricultural futures, wheat for March delivery slumped 11.75 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $6.3875 a bushel.

January soybeans fell 5.5 cents, 0.4 percent, to $13.3825 a bushel and March corn lost two cents, or 0.5 percent, to $4.36 a bushel.